Comverge enrolls one-millionth customer in demand response programs

In 2011, Comverge's demand response programs helped maintain grid reliability by delivering a total of 16 GWh of reduced electricity demand during the summer cooling season across all of its enrollments in North America

Jan 23rd, 2012

San Antonio, Texas, January 23, 2012 — Comverge, Inc., a provider of energy management solutions for residential, commercial and industrial customers, has enrolled one million customers in its demand response programs.

The milestone highlights Comverge's strong operational execution in 2011, with the company partnering with major utilities to enroll 300,000 residential customers in demand response programs, or about 800 new customers a day.

In 2011, Comverge's demand response programs helped maintain grid reliability by delivering a total of 16 GWh of reduced electricity demand during the summer cooling season across all of its enrollments in North America.

The automated demand response industry in North America is expected to grow from a $1.3 billion annual market in 2011 to $6.1 billion in 2016, according to Pike Research. In 2010, energy efficiency and demand response programs in the U.S. saved enough energy to power almost 10 million homes and in the summer of 2011 alone, Comverge reduced 16 GWh of electricity demand to help maintain grid reliability during record breaking heat waves. In total, Comverge successfully executed 200 demand response control events in 2011, which involved 3.3 million customer curtailments.

In addition to these developments in North America, the demand response industry also expanded internationally in 2011. This expansion included Comverge entering into an agreement with Eskom, Africa's largest electricity provider, to co-manage Africa's first open market for demand response resources.

Under the terms of the agreement, Comverge will deploy the IntelliSOURCE 2.0 platform for Eskom to register, dispatch and operate a new competitive demand response market in South Africa for an initial 500 MW of demand response resources. In addition, the agreement calls for Comverge to provide at least 100 megawatts directly as one of the new curtailment service providers serving this newly established market.